Monday, 2 March 2015

Secrets of THE DOOM CHART

Anybody here who used to follow the old Paranoid Hitsophrenic blog I used to run will probably recall the Super Doom Charts. I got the idea when I opened the Paranoid blog to review submissions. I'd always try to give an honest critique of the music, but sometimes I would rave about an album and find myself moving away from it quicker than I thought I would. It got me thinking. I'd made quite a few online buddies who also blogged or podcasted about doom and stoner music and I wondered, with all the album reviews we collectively threw out there on a monthly basis, which albums were we actually listening to and digging. I threw the idea of doing a music chart based on reviewers opinions and listening habits and I was surprised at the positive response. We did the first one in May of 2013. It became a big hit, Uncle Acid himself said he saw them, which would have been right around the time they were touring the UK with Black Sabbath.

Much to mine and many other people's horror, the idea died with the Paranoid blog a year ago. The last Super Doom Chart went up on the old Paranoid blog on March 1, 2014. I was having internet problems and I accidentally deleted the post and had to re-do it from scratch the next day. It wasn't long after that that I gave up trying to beat my head against the wall by fighting through the lack of internet.

Anyway, a year passed and now the concept has returned. This time around I'm not hosting it on my site. I decided to post it on a neutral site on which many of the others involved in putting it together could share equal administrator status. I didn't want to make the concept "mine" this time around, if I ever did. You might say I wanted to spread the blame and well, I have. Right now the admins for the new site represent The Sludgelord, The Evil Engineer, Stoner Hive, Doomed & Stoned, Fast n Bulbous, More Fuzz websites, Hand of Doom Online Radio and the band Motherslug. It's a great group. There are more people involved of course, and we'll get to that motley group in a moment along with all the requisite links.

But first, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to let you in on a little secret.

Because I compiled everybody's individual list into the chart I'm privy to the knowledge of which bands just missed the Top 25 cut. They're all great bands and certainly worthy of a little extra attention. In fact, compiling this chart has helped me discover quite a few awesome bands myself as I'm sure it's helped a few others do the same so I'll present to you right now, the next ten on the list.

The response to the newly re-formed Doom Charts has been amazing. As of this writing the list has been shared 397 times on facebook and has averaged about 100 pageviews an hour in the 30 hours since it was first posted. That may not sound like a lot, but You May Be Dead & Dreaming is lucky to hit 100 views in a day (when I'm not posting or sharing links that is, on a good day I'll hit around 200 here). The chart has been seen in 57 different countries. To quote the immortal Reverend Bizarre, that's "Doom Over the World"!

Every link on the post has been clicked at least twice. Hopefully the list has spread the word just a little bit about some kick ass bands and websites, which was my ambition. Everybody benefits from a "collective" like this, none more so than the band Elder, whose link has been hit about 100 times. Also, I think we introduced quite a few people to the bands Shepherd, Holy Serpent and ZQKMGDZ, who are all incredible. Their respective links have been hit around 50 times each.

And all of those numbers continue to climb, by the way.

Next month the plan is for somebody else to curate the list and put it all together. Hopefully we've built a more sustainable model of the Doom Charts that will survive any internet blackouts or personal maladies. Also, expect to see more contributors, I have to admit, this month's list was kind of a rush job but we got it finished and posted in fine fashion. I hope you've enjoyed it.

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